Always Come Back
by Zoja
Summary: "You know that I'll always come back to you, even if I have to crawl across the planet to get to the gate?" John/Elizabeth


**Title:** Always Come Back

 **Rating:** T, to be safe.

 **Season:** Alternate Future

 **Canon divergence:** Before "Sunday" - this episode and all the events afterwards never happened.

 **Spoilers:** None

 **Pairing:** Shweir/Sparky

 **Credits:** _**Byrhthelm**_ , for correcting my mistakes; _**Sessimaa**_ , for her help with the cover.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. No profit was made from this work and none will be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

 **A/N:** It's my first SGA story, but I've been around in this fandom for some time now. This little story was floating around in my head for quite a while. I wanted to write something light and shippy, something that wouldn't have to be taken all that seriously, and that's the result. I hope you will enjoy it!

* * *

Elizabeth sighed with frustration, when the light in her office flickered and put the report she was reading down, hiding her face in her hands. She was hoping that work would help her keep her mind away from the thought that AR-1 had run into trouble once again. She still had the scene in front of her eyes, when the 'gate activated and the people gathered in the control room heard John shouting to lower the shield because there was something chasing them and they were coming in hot. He didn't even manage to finish the sentence when they heard a loud squawk, followed by Rodney's piercing scream, and all the commotion they were listening to left no doubts that the scientist must have been captured. Sheppard stayed a little behind, shooting at the creature that took McKay, covering for his friends, and before Teyla and Ronon even rematerialized on the other side of the wormhole, they knew that he hadn't managed to get to the 'gate. They heard another squawk and John's cry, then they lost connection with him.

She was already worried sick by then, since past the team had failed to check in when they were supposed to report three hours earlier. Nobody was really surprised by her concerns as everyone knew that she always worried about the people she was sending off-world as well as that the members of AR-1, along with Carson, were her closest friends in the city. It wasn't a difficult decision to send two more teams to that planet to find the missing men and bring them back to Atlantis after they checked if it was safe, but she wished she could do more than sit in her office and pray that they would manage to accomplish the goal and John and Rodney would be back soon, safe and sound.

Nothing was able to prevent her mind from wandering in that direction and coming up with countless possible scenarios. She caught herself reading the same sentence in the report for the fifth, without absorbing it, and she hadn't even managed to get to the middle of the page in almost an hour of reading. She was doing everything she could to stay calm, at least on the outside, because everything inside her was boiling. She felt like screaming, throwing things and telling people to go to hell every time they approached her with something, that in light of the two senior staff members missing was an absolutely insignificant matter. She hated this feeling, the utter helplessness filling her and her raging hormones were definitely not helping, either.

She couldn't do any of that, though. As the head of Atlantis, she couldn't allow herself to be driven by emotions, no matter how strong they were. Considering the changes that took place in the city over the last year, everyone's actions were under watchful scrutiny of the IOA, Elizabeth's especially as she was the leader. She didn't want to give them any reason to believe that she wasn't able to remain objective in any situation, and thus unsuitable for the position, even when the person she was in a relationship with was in mortal danger. Some would have thought that she had already proven herself, especially that John going off-world was pretty much a synonym for trouble, but it wasn't enough and she was quite certain that all of her actions would be observed for as long as she remained in this position.

"I only hope you're not going to get this trait from your daddy or I'm going to lose my mind…" she spoke quietly, placing one of her hands on her swollen abdomen.

There were moments when she still found it difficult to believe she was pregnant, but now that she was in her fifth month and showing, an action like this always helped her reassure herself that it was really happening. She had always believed that it wasn't for her. She had nothing against being in a serious relationship or even marrying someone she cared about, but she didn't see a place for children in her life and it had always been important for her that her potential partner shared that view, or at least respected it. That was why her relationship with Simon worked so well, although reflecting on it now, she thought about it more as a comfortable arrangement rather than a relationship. It was secure, predictable and nothing like what she shared now. With John, it was anything but predictable; in fact, it was absolutely crazy. She could never be sure what to expect; they could be biting each other's heads off for the least reason one second and making out the next. She had been used to suppressing the voice of her heart, always acting responsibly and reasonably, but with him it felt natural to let it go, to allow herself to feel instead of thinking and the result of that was under her hand.

She turned her head towards the door when she heard someone knock and had to fight very hard with the urge to wince at the sight of Carson. The last thing she felt like at the moment was listening to his complaints about her habits, even though she really had been taking better care of herself since she found out about the baby. It might have been an accident and a huge surprise, but it didn't mean that she didn't care about her child's wellbeing! She had loved this little girl since the fact that she was going to be a mother fully sunk in, probably even before that happened, so how could anyone think that she would consciously endanger her?

They knew she wouldn't of course, but it didn't prevent them from making sure that she took it easy, didn't work too long, ate regular meals and got enough sleep. John was the worst, though, having gone as far as using Chuck as his spy and having the technician inform him about everything she was doing, especially if she bent the rules set by Carson, even if it was just a matter of staying in her office five minutes longer because she _truly_ didn't notice the hour or eating just a half of her sandwich because her stomach was rebelling against it. Because of that, she wasn't really surprised seeing the Scottish doctor; she knew that John told Chuck to keep an even closer eye on her while he was on a mission and radio Beckett in case she wanted to take advantage of his absence and work longer. She smiled at Carson though, motioning for him to come in.

"If Chuck called you here so that you force me away from these reports, there's no need. I can't focus on them anyway."

"Aye, I could see that" he spoke with a gentle smile. "But that's not why I'm here. How are you holding up?"

"I…" she started, but found herself at a loss for words to describe how she felt and sighed. "… honestly have no idea…"

"John is a tough lad" said Carson and wasn't surprised when Elizabeth simply shrugged. Of course, it wasn't a very comforting when they didn't even know if the two missing men were still alive. "He's going to be fine, Elizabeth. He's been through worse, and always come back. And he didn't even have you and your daughter to cling to."

These words earned him something between a snort and a sob coming from the woman in front of him, and he cursed inwardly when he saw tears move down her cheeks. There he was, trying to lift her spirits and everything he accomplished was bring her to tears.

"Oh God, I'm sorry…" she gasped, wiping the wet traces with her hands.

Carson nodded, seeing her obvious embarrassment and approached her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"That's alright. Nothing's gonna beat you bursting into tears in the middle of the cafeteria when Rodney said that your piece of cake looked better than his" Beckett smiled, hearing Elizabeth chuckle, although there was still a gentle blush on her face.

"Off-world activation!" stated Chuck, loud enough that his voice was perfectly audible in the leader's office.

Elizabeth immediately jumped to her feet and was grateful that Carson was standing so close, because he managed to catch her when she was overcome by a wave of dizziness. The moment it passed, she rushed to the control room and down the stairs to the 'gate room, followed closely by the doctor.

"It's Major Lorne's IDC!" exclaimed the technician and everyone, who was nearby stopped.

They all knew that Evan Lorne was leading the rescue team sent to retrieve John and Rodney, and wanted to see the results on their own eyes. They prayed to see the two men walk through the gate on their own legs, safe and sound. It wasn't long after the shield was lowered, that the group returned. Elizabeth's stomach twisted, when she saw a stretcher but when she noticed that it was Rodney, who was being carried on it, she was filled with relief. It was quickly replaced by guilt, though, but she knew he wasn't seriously injured the moment he started to complain.

John came through a minute later, supported by one of the Marines, and she was pretty sure it was the longest sixty seconds in her life. The moment her eyes landed on his face, everything else ceased to matter. She didn't even know when she took the few steps that separated them. She just threw herself at him, almost tackling him to the ground, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him fiercely.

"Lizzie…" he whispered, hiding his face in her hair. He held her tightly, ignoring the pain it sent through his body.

They stood like this for a moment, just holding each other and taking comfort from the other's presence. She immediately realized that he wasn't okay, even though he looked relatively fine, when she noticed that he was leaning more onto her with every passing second.

"What's wrong?" she asked worried, moving away from him.

"Liz…" he mumbled and the way he was looking at her revealed that he had difficulties focusing on her. "Love you…" he added and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed.

"John!" exclaimed Elizabeth, trying to support his weight and soften his fall to the ground.

Her scream got the attention of the others, who tried to give the two as much privacy as it was possible in the middle of the 'gate room, which was not only the busiest place in the city, but right now filled with a large group of people. Ronon immediately moved to help her, taking Sheppard's weight off her and lowering him to the ground. It wasn't long before the medical team got to the man, putting him on a stretcher and taking to the infirmary, Elizabeth, Teyla and Ronon following them closely.

When Carson eventually walked out to the waiting area of the infirmary, he was greeted with a very familiar scene, which took place every time he was treating Sheppard. The Colonel's team and Elizabeth were sitting in silence, all seemed to be lost in their thoughts, waiting for news about John's condition. Rodney joined the three when all his injuries were taken care of, hobbling over to them on crutches, with his leg in a cast and a few bandages, not saying a word of complaint since he heard that the team leader's condition was much more serious than it looked at first sight.

"How is he?" asked Elizabeth the moment she noticed him, approaching him immediately.

"He's stable. He's a tad weak and he will need some time to recover, but he's going to be fine" he explained, smiling at the pregnant woman. "He's actually conscious and asking for you, Elizabeth."

"What happened?" inquired Teyla, moving to stand next to Weir. "He seemed fine on the planet. He only complained about some pain, but he didn't even need a stretcher to get to the Stargate."

"That must have been adrenaline and it wore off when he got back to Atlantis. He wasn't able to fight the poison in his bloodstream anymore."

"Poison?!" exclaimed Rodney. "That's impossible! I was with him the whole time, Carson! There wasn't any time when he could have gotten poisoned!"

"He wasn't poisoned, at least not deliberately. I believe that the creature's bite must be poisonous and one of its teeth pierced his skin when he was caught. He was lucky it was only a scratch, not an actual bite. The venom is extremely toxic and even though it works with casual antidotes, he wouldn't have a chance to survive - by the time the rescue team got to him, he would be long gone, so he is extremely lucky to be alive."

"As much as we appreciate the thorough information, I'm not sure Elizabeth really needed to hear it at the moment" commented Teyla, watching the other woman, who suddenly turned very pale.

"That's alright, Teyla, I'd rather know everything. Can I go, see him, Carson?"

"Of course. He'll be very happy to see you."

Elizabeth had tears in her eyes, when she stepped into the room and looked at John. He was lying still on the bed, extremely pale and immediately turned towards her, when he heard someone enter. A small smile lit up his face at the sight of her and he reached out his hand, encouraging her to come closer. She slowly approached him, taking his hand in his without hesitation and squeezing it.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, subconsciously caressing his hand with her thumb. Feeling his gentle pull, she sat down at the edge of the bed.

"Like crap…" he spoke in a husky voice, but not wanting to worry her, he immediately added: "Carson said I'm gonna be okay. And how are you and Abigail?"

"We're both fine, but Abigail? Where did that come from? Last time we talked, you wanted to name our daughter Raven."

"I've had a lot of time to think when we were waiting for rescue… I tried to think of a name, that I liked and would seriously consider giving to my daughter – if you agreed, of course. Abigail Sheppard sounds nice, Abby Sheppard even better…"

"I like it" she stated, grinning. "We still have a lot of time, though, but it's definitely on top of the list for me. Did you know it means 'father's joy'?"

"Does it, now? Fits perfectly, then!"

She nodded her head and leaned forward, feeling him pull her down. Cupping his face with her free hand, she placed her lips against his in a gentle kiss.

"You know that I'll always come back to you, even if I have to crawl across the planet to get to the gate?"

"I know, John. I know."

Carson smiled, standing by the ajar door and looking at the two leaders and walked away quietly. It was so heartwarming to see their love and happiness. He didn't think there was a person in the city, who was surprised when they admitted to be in relationship, it had always been obvious to everyone how much they cared for each other. He would never know why it took them almost half a year since the change in regulations, which allowed relationship between them, to get together, but it wasn't important. They were together now, they would become a family in a few months and were extremely happy – it was all that mattered.


End file.
